re: All-Grain Brewing Step-by-Step

Nice write up. Really intrigued by the no chill and batch sparging really. Even though I have been brewing for a while I keep changing up my process. Batch sparged the last batch and it came out fine. Typically I fly sparge though.

quote:I've never had a problem with it, but I'm only two all-grain batches in.

I'm no expert, but I did research ph 5.2 a while back. It seemed the consensus among people that actually tested their Mash ph was 5.2 did not do anything. Most people claimed adding Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) to raise the alkalinity (ph) or Lactic Acid to lower it was a much better solution. I too need to learn more about water chemistry but I usually just ask the guys at the LHBS what I should add for whatever style of beer I am brewing. I usally don't have to do anything. But I do add gypsum to all my IPAs which really brightens the hops.

ETA: The other thing you can do is boil your mash water before starting your mash. This will lower the alkalinity some......but BR water may be too low anyway...not sure.

I tried two batches with the general ph stabilizer stuff. Both times I tested the ph with those strips and it was still high - like 5.8-6.0, if I'm remembering correctly, though those color strips are never the same color as the legend on the container.

Easy. In my research I read where people just pour the hot wort in there and let it do the sanitizing as it's still 190+ degrees. Just to be sure I give it a quick starsan rinse before dumping the wort in there. Once the wort is in there I squeeze all the air out, close it up, and turn it on it's side to make sure the hot liquid come in contact with the top for a few minutes and heat sanitizes it.

quote:Easy. In my research I read where people just pour the hot wort in there and let it do the sanitizing as it's still 190+ degrees. Just to be sure I give it a quick starsan rinse before dumping the wort in there. Once the wort is in there I squeeze all the air out, close it up, and turn it on it's side to make sure the hot liquid come in contact with the top for a few minutes and heat sanitizes it.

Ok, I'll give that a try. Combing this with BIAB is really going to streamline all-grain brewing for me.